NYT: Red Brick Antebellum

How does a former New Yorker make a home in Virginia? At Home With James Collins: A Storybook Life in Red Brick describes the author's move to Merriewood in Somerset, Virginia. The red brick antebellum house was built in 1856 and needed massive updates to make it livable for a modern family...

A former editor at Spy magazine, Mr. Collins wrote his first book, "Beginner's Greek," in the plywood-clad walls of his study/barn. A traditional style prevails in both the interior and exterior. The massive 4,000 square foot addition to the rear of the original brick structure was designed by William Ryall of Ryall Porter Architects in Manhattan. Clad in white clapboard, the new structure allowed the necessary addition of a kitchen and bathrooms for James Collins, his wife Ginger Donelson and their two children.